Deal With
by Makiko Igami
Summary: Noctis has to deal with the fact that after he "died", he wakes up as a teenager again. And he's a completely different person.


_Day 2:_ _Bed Sharing_ _/ High School Days_

 _ **Notes &Comments**_ _: OKAY, I know, this is probably weird to most of you. It stems from a plotbunny that I have, that I want to write, but that I haven't worked out completely. What you need to know about this one though is that Noctis was asleep for a long time, in a coma. There, he experienced SOMETHING like what happens in Sword Art Online (at this point I have to mention that I am NOT a fan! I liked the gaming idea of something like a parallel life in the gaming world, but I hated everything else about that series. Please do not come fangirling to me about SAO, I have that blocked). I'm still working out the details, but for the High School Days, I thought it would be fun to write something like a preview to that universe, but the whole thing is pretty vague. But it was fun to write, even if it's gotten pretty long, too. ^^;_

Noctis couldn't believe he was a teenager again.

Still?

Ah, whatever.

Anyway, he was a teenager and he sat in High School on his first day of being properly awake and adjusted after what felt like a lifetime. A lifetime that had been much too short, but a whole lifetime anyway.

In front of him sat a boy his age - they all were his age in this class, but well, he felt like he needed to point it out - who was so much like the boy who had been his age in his _other_ lifetime, but entirely different, too. This boy had not found a reason to work out and lose weight after their first meeting at the end of elementary school, no, he was still - what was the word he had used? - heavy. Pudgy face, a back that was wide and soft, fat pads spilling over the sides of the chair. He wore glasses, but the eye color was still the same. Even his hair was still blond, but not spiky like Noctis remembered it.

Oh wait. His name wasn't 'Noctis' anymore.

His name was Shinya.

That was probably the most confusing thing, the different names. The boy in front of him wasn't called 'Prompto', but the not so exciting name of Peter.

The rest wasn't all that different.

Shinya didn't have any friends either, but that wasn't so surprising because he had been in a coma for ten years. He was surprised that some people in his class even remembered him from elementary school.

The rest was pretty much the same, just that he didn't have his own apartment but his own part in his father's house. His father who owned a very big company.

In a way, he was like a prince, just that their society didn't really have that kind of royalty anymore.

Before he could get too much into philosophizing about real life and a fantasy world, the bell rang for the break and Shinya sighed, getting out his bento to find the way to the rooftop. Before he could leave the classroom though, he stopped at the exit, taking another look at the big guy. He looked lonely, fiddling with his camera and his store bought lunch that was too much to eat for one person alone.

There must have been a reason why he had dreamt him into that other world.

Maybe it was because Shinya had sensed his loneliness and thought that they could take it away from each other. And if that could happen in that other world, it certainly could happen in this world again.

Thus, he turned on his heel and walked over to Peter's desk, waiting until the other boy looked up at him curiously.

"Hey, um, Peter, right? Wanna go and eat lunch with me? I've got some catching up to do and I'd like you to help me," he said and waited until Peter had realized that, yes, he was indeed talking to him. When those big blue eyes looked up at him, he smiled, realizing that at least those were still the same.

Peter, it turned out, liked to take pictures of things that he liked on his way home. Those things included little dogs, cats and other animals he came across, flowers, funny signs, clothes, people in funny poses and sleek cars. They got lost in a rant about old cars versus new cars, unable to decide which were better when the bell rang again for the end of the break.

As they hurried back inside, Shinya realized that Peter was a fast runner, despite his mass. When asked about it, the blond said that he was trying to work out more since they were nearing the end of school and nobody would hire a fat person. On a whim, Shinya asked if they wanted to go train together, not just running and when Peter's eyes widened with a gleam that made his heart beat faster, Shinya knew that he had made the right decision.

Back at home he lay in bed and stared at the ceiling, feeling amazed at how similar the stories of his two best friends from high school were. He curled in on his side to find some much deserved sleep when he remembered curling around another lithe body in his other life in various states of undress and how deeply he had been in love then.

But had those feelings been real? If everything had been a dream, had his feelings been real? Or had he been so narcissistic that he had fallen in love with a figment of his imagination that had been a part of him all the time?

Before he could get a headache over this, he had fallen asleep, dreaming of a life that was just as fantastic as a video game.

Peter turned out to be just as much of an avid gamer as Shinya himself was. They even had accounts in the same games and so they exchanged usernames with the promise to play some missions together sometimes.

Shinya was happy, and even if he could say that he low-key had a crush on his new friend, it wasn't something he would act on. This wasn't Prompto, he told himself, this was Peter and those two were entirely different people. One was real and the other wasn't. One was Shinya's friend and the other was just a figment of his imagination.

As much as that thought hurt, it was the truth and something he needed to remember at all times.

So, he spent his high school days running with Peter, lifting weights with him, playing video games until the two of them passed out from exhaustion and just tried to be a normal teenager.

Summer break in their last year didn't only have them studying until they felt dizzy, no, it also marked the moment, when Peter came over one day with a grin so bright that it made Shinya's heart flutter and reconcile his thoughts about his crush being just a crush.

"I've made it," Peter beamed as he stood at the door of Shinya's family house.

"I'm sorry?" the black-haired boy just stared at him, eyeing the by now slim frame of his best friend from head to toe. Something about the movement felt familiar, but he couldn't quite remember why.

"I've reached my goal weight _and_ I've got a sixpack now, wanna see it?" Peter grinned and lifted up his shirt, making Shinya blush, but also beam back at him. He reached out tentatively to feel hard muscle where he remembered quite the amount of soft fat not so long ago.

"You did it! That's awesome! I knew you could do it, congratulations!" Shinya grinned and pulled Peter into a tight hug, inhaling the other's cologne deeply.

Which was weird, because Peter had never used cologne before. Just the antitranspirant that he used after a shower after workout that basically smelled like nothing. But now, Shinya got almost dizzy as he smelled the musky, yet fruity scent.

"There's... there's something else," Peter said, his breath tickling Shinya's neck as they hugged for longer than the bro code allowed. The black-haired boy could feel his eyes widen and he wanted to pull away to look into the other's eyes, but unfortunately, Peter had grown strong enough to overpower him. "Shin, there's... something I wanted to tell you ever since... ever since the first day we met. Well. Maybe not the _first_ day. But lately it's gotten clearer so I said to myself, if I managed to get to my goal weight and body, I would tell you."

"Peter," Shinya breathed, because he knew what was coming. Prompto had confessed like this, using almost the exact same words. He wanted to ask Peter to pinch him to see if he was dreaming again - still? - but he couldn't. Didn't want to.

"I... I like you. A lot. A-and more than... more than just a friend, okay?" Peter said, his breath warm against Shinya's neck. "I might just be in love with you, but I'm sure that's a little too much. But... ever since the day you turned around and asked me to join you for lunch, my heart's been doing cartwheels every time you just so much looked at me. You've... you've been nothing but the best friend I could ask for and even if you don't return my feelings, I needed to say them-"

"Me too," Shinya interrupted his friend. "I like you, too."

Shell-shocked, Peter finally let go of him, just to gape at him with an open mouth. Shinya shrugged sheepishly, smiling at his best friend. The whole situation felt so goddamned familiar and he didn't quite understand why.

"Aaah, I didn't think you would! Man, that's..."

"Great?" Shinya supplied, stepping aside to finally let Peter into his house.

"Yeah," the blond laughed, and Shinya smiled as his heart skipped a beat. He loved the sound of his voice. It reminded him of someone of this other life that he's had.

They went into his room, where Peter skipped through his games and he beamed as something caught his eye. "You've got a copy of Ultimate Fantasia? Man, that's awesome! I used the play that every day so many years ago. Had an alter ego that looked like everything I wanted to be. He was good with guns and funny, but had a tragic backstory, too. Born as one of the bad guys, he was rescued as a baby. I've... I've had friends there, and they meant the world to me... Dunno what happened to them. We've all had those Latin names and mine was Quicksilver, because that sounds cool, right? Well, not so much in Latin."

"Prompto," Shinya said, who had gone pale and stared at this friend with wide eyes. "Prompto Argentum."

"Dude, do you know Latin?" Peter laughed, even as Shinya was still looking at him as if he had grown a second head. "Cuz yeah, that was my character's name. Our party consisted of the prince, his advisor and his bodyguard and we had to save the world. Well, I guess that's how the story went, but. The story sucked. The prince disappeared after what felt like half of the game, and then came back after ten years? Imagine that! Leaving your friends hanging in _darkness_ for ten long years? Who the hell would do that?"

"Noctis," Shinya said, pulling Peter into a hug. "The prince's name was Noctis Lucis Caelum, the advisor's name was Ignis _Stupeo_ Scientia and the bodyguard's name was Gladiolus Amicitia."

"How... Ignis never..." Peter gasped, because they both knew that Ignis never used his full name except on very limited occasions. Occasions that no one outside of the game really knew about.

"I was there," Shinya breathed, hugging Peter tighter as tears started to fall. "It was me. Noctis... I was... when I was... _not here_ , I was _there_!"

Peter fell silent, obviously trying to process what Shinya was trying to tell him. And he tried to say more, but he couldn't, tears falling freely now.

"I missed you so much... I thought I lost you!" he sobbed instead, gross tears falling onto the blond's shoulder.

"...Noct?" Peter tried, making Shinya sob a laugh.

"Yeah, Prom, it's me. As stupid as it sounds. But I was _in_ that game, when I was in that coma. I thought no one else was that I was playing it all alone, but it seems like you at least were real!"

"You... you really think... holy shit!"

"Yeah, I needed a lot of counseling because I really thought I was the King of Light for a while... Imagine how it was, waking up after giving your life away for your people as a thirty-year-old, just to wake up in the body of a teenager!"

"That must have been a shock!" Peter laughed, but as Shinya pulled away to wipe at his eyes, he was sporting a blush.

"So... all of that had been real for you?" he asked, trying to understand what Shinya was getting at.

"Yeah... Back then, definitely. All of it. It was a shock to learn that it had all been a dream. And now... now it wasn't? That's confusing."

"I can imagine," Peter replied hesitantly, his eyes shifting nervously. "So, um... That... that _other_ part of the game had also been real for you? The one where Noctis and Prom... were more than just good friends?"

Shinya nodded. "Yeah. Took me awhile to get used to the fact that those were also pretty much imaginary feelings."

"Well, I guess they were not. I-I mean, I didn't know much about romance and such things back then, but... that was real. Just you and me, buddy."

Shinya laughed, because it was so easy to pretend that this was the Prompto he knew talking, and not the Peter he had come to know.

"I loved Prompto," he confessed. "It was so weird to see you on my first day of school and think that you looked like the boy from back then, just in tall... So I thought that it wouldn't hurt to try to become your friend after fucking up that first time."

"That... was also real. Not in the game. You said I was heavy back then, so when you finally approached me I thought you wanted to make fun of me again," Peter said with a sheepish laugh.

Shinya's eyes widened. "I... I thought..."

Well, it seemed like he had been troubled by that scene so much that he had dreamed about it to work it out. Too bad that he didn't have the courage to approach the boy when he was still fat then in either of his memories.

He huffed a breath. "No. I never wanted to make fun of you. Not back then, not now. I was just... surprised? I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I figured you didn't mean it. It still took a while to get over it," Peter replied. "Anyway! It helped Prompto to find his resolve to start running that very day and for me, well, it took a little longer."

"Here we are though," Shinya smiled, leaning in to rest his head on the other boy's shoulder. "Running together, training together... just like it should be. Sorry I didn't talk to you sooner."

"It's okay... we've had one life together in that game," Peter huffed and smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah... wanna find out if we can make this boring life more awesome than the last? I promise I won't let myself be absorbed by a stupid crystal and not be there for ten years," Shinya grinned, making Peter laugh.

"Gee, your highness, don't make promises you can't keep! You've been in a coma for a long time, that's pretty much like being stuck in a crystal."

"I guess you're right. But I don't feel like sacrificing myself for this world this time around." Shinya said, just to frown as he saw Peter's surprised face. "W-well. I... I guess I would do that for... for the ones I love... But not before I've made absolutely sure that there's absolutely no other way!"

"Sounds like a plan," Peter laughed. "I don't want to lose my boyfriend to something idiotic like his fate."

"Yeah, that's something that I want to determine myself. And not some weird will of the gods."

"Sounds good enough to me. Speaking of which, what are your plans for after school?"

"Um... Nothing much yet?"

Peter laughed. "I knew you'd say that! Dude, you gotta decide on something though! It's only finals left and then we're off! Didn't you send in applications for your favorite universities?"

"I did. Probably gonna go with something like business or whatever. Dad wants me to take over the company from him, so I guess that's what I'll do until I find out what I want to do with my life," Shinya said, frowning in disdain. He had lost so much of his youth that he wasn't ready yet to grow up 'again'. His only hope was that he wasn't preparing for his own sacrifice.

Peter snorted. "That's kind of something a prince would say. You know, you're really like Noctis. Like, sometimes really regal, and then just the greatest nerd I've ever seen. I guess that's what I liked so much about you. And Noct. Well, what Prompto liked about Noctis."

"It's... it's okay. You don't have to argue about it. We've got that in our past and if we think too much about it, it will get weird, but, you know, we've also got ourselves _now_ , so let's just live the lives that we're given?"

"I'm fine with whatever, dude... But maybe we should try to figure out how we are going about this new kind of relationship that we've got first?"

"Good idea," Shinya laughed. "Wanna kiss?"

"I've been dying to... Though-" Peter started, just to blush and look away.

"Afraid it'll be nothing like it was in the game?" Shinya asked, because he understood that. He was afraid of that as well.

"Mhm, kinda. It's quite a lot to live up to," Peter confessed, fiddling with his fingers.

"Well, try me. I'll tell you if it's the same," Shinya smirked. "Remember, it was real for me."

Peter's eyes widened and he looked to the side, his eyes dancing from here to there until Shinya decided it was better to just jump in at the deep end and he kissed the other. Peter's eyes widened comically before he screwed them shut, making Shinya chuckle before he pulled away.

"That was not funny!" Peter protested, but Shinya was still smiling.

"Just a little. And it was better."

"Better than what?"

"Better than kissing someone who only existed in my dream... or, well, a video game," Shinya explained.

"Hey! I feel hurt now on Prompto's behalf!" Peter protested, making Shinya laugh even more. "Come here and I'll show you we're the best!"

"I've been waiting for that," Shinya grinned, letting the other tackle him to the bed.

They talked a lot less after that.


End file.
